A North Carolina pastor has described how a veteran suffering from
post-traumatic stress disorder walked into a church with a high-powered assault
rifle and asked the pastor if he could pray for him.
Pastor Larry Wright, who is a retired Army drill sergeant as
well as a city councilor in Fayetteville, N.C., told the Fayetteville Observer
that he was conducting a New Year's Eve prayer service at Heal the Land
Outreach Ministries when the unidentified man walked into the sanctuary with
the gun in one hand and an ammunition clip in the other.
"I asked him 'can I help you?'", Wright told WRAL-TV.
"[The gunman's] next words were 'can you pray for me?' When he said that,
then I knew everything was going to be all right."
Wright took the man's gun and patted him down to be certain
there were no other weapons hidden on him. The man was invited to sit in the
front pew, then approached Wright after the service.
"He gave his life to Christ," Wright told the
Observer.
Police then arrived, and the took the man to a local medical
center at his request. He does not face any charges in connection with the
incident.
On Sunday, the man returned to the church to apologize for the
scare he had caused. He told WRAL that his wife has just been diagnosed with a
debilitating illness and the couple are in dire financial straits. The man added
that part of his struggles with PTSD come from an inability to afford his
medication.
"I saw in his eyes hopelessness, hurt, pain, despair,"
Wright told WRAL Sunday.
Congregants told the station they have made plans to baptize the
man next Sunday, should he return.
"I pray that he comes back and visits us," church
member Lucrecia Hall said. "I’m not scared of him, not now."
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